Rotary valve for planter-legs.



P. B. HAMER. ROTARY VALVE FOR PLANTER LEGS. APPLICATION FILED MAR.22, 1910.

968,765. Patented Aug. 30, 1910.

'ZWITNESSES IIVVENTOR f/dmer ATTORNEY-5.

PHILIP B. HAMER, OF RENNER, TEXAS.

ROTARY VALVE FOR PLANTER-LEGS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 30, 1910.

Application filed March 22, 1910. Serial No. 550,978.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PHILIP B. Hanna, citizen of the United States, residing at Benner, in the county of Collin and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary :Valvesfor Planter-Legs, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in seed drops for planters.

The object of the invention is to provide a rotary valve having equally disposed radial arms adapted to stand across the foot and drop the seed at each quarter rotation of the valve.

Another feature resides in means for holding the valve in position and stopping it at a certain point at the end of each partial rotation, together with means for rotating the valve arranged to work free of the valve upon reverse rotation.

Finally the object of the invention is to provide means of the character described that will be strong, durable, eflicient, and easy of operation, simple and comparatively inexpensive to construct, and also in which the several parts will not be likely to get out of working order.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention has relation to certain novel features of construction and operation, an example of which is described in this specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1. is a side elevation of a portion of aplanter showing the invention applied thereto, Fig. 2. is a similar view with the foot in section, Fig. 3. is ahorizontal cross sectional view on the line S-D of Fig. 2, Fig. 4. is an inner face view of the ratchet and pawl members, and Fig. 5. is a cross sectional view of the same on the line mw of Fig. 4.

In the drawings the numeral 1 designates the leg or foot of a planter. The rear portion of the foot is covered by a spring member 2 conforming to the contour of the foot and terminating short of the bottom there of. This spring member is provided with an off-set 3 adapted to be engaged by the ends of radial arms 4 ofa rotary valve.

The arms 4 are equally spaced and project from a hub 5 extending transversely of the foot and fitting snugly on a square shank 6 by which the valve is rotated. The parts are disposed so that two of the opposed arms will normally stand horizontally with the end of the rearmost arm engaging in the off-set 3 and the valve held againstrotation; while one of the vertical arms stands snugly under an inwardly projecting transverse partition 7. By observing Fig. 2 it will be seen that the seed is dropped onto the forward arm of the valve. By mechanism hereinafter described the valve is given a quarter rotation in the direction of the arrow which drops the seed out of the foot and causes the following arms to take the places of the preceding arms which are moved.

It will be noted that there are no angles orzrecesses in which the seeds could congest or pack. The general shape of the foot and the partition 7 guide the seed in a free and easy manner to the forward horizontal arm of the valve. When the valve is rotated, the forward horizontal arm carrying the seed precipitates the seed into the lower open end of the foot from which it readily falls 'to the ground, while any seed tending to congest is carried downward by the following arm which moves from under the partition 7 when the valve is rotated.

Ihave found it best to employ four arms and to impart to the valve, a quarter rotation at each movement. To impart this movement the shank 6 is extended through the sides of the leg and provided at one end with a ratchet Y 8 which bears against the outside of the leg. The shank is provided with a round bearing shoulder 9 adjacent the ratchet and engaging in the side of the leg.

.The opposite end of the shank is reduced and rounded at 10 to form a bearing in the opposite side of the leg beyond which it projects to receive a cotter pin 11 whereby the shank is held against lateral displacement in the leg but permitted to rotate.

The ratchet 8 is formed integral on the shank and has an annular depression 12 in its outer face to receive an annular bearing boss 13 disposed internally in a rotating disk 14 through which the rounded portion 15 of the shank is passed as shown in Fig. 5. The disk 14. has an annular recess 16 in its inner side to snugly receive the ratchet so that the inner side of the ratchet will lie substantially flush with the disk, while the disk is held in position by a cotter pin 17 passed through the portion 15 of the shank.

A recess 18 is formed in the periphery of the recess 16 and is of suflicient depth to receive a pawl 19 provided with a cylindrical head 20 snugly retained in a cylindricalpocket 21 at the end of the recess 18. This pawl is held in engagement with the teeth of the ratchet by a coiled spring 22 as shown in Fig. 4. The ratchet 8 has four equally spaced teeth so that by imparting a quarter rotation to the disk 14 the ratchet, shank and valve will be given a quarter rotation, but upon a quarter reverse rotation of the disk the valve, shank and ratchet will be held against rotation by the oil-set 3, but the pawl will be carried back a quarter rotation to engage the next tooth. A

On its outerside and at the proper distance from its center, the disk 18 provided with a shouldered wrist pin 23 on which the lower end of a link 24 is pivotally confined by a cotter pin 25. This link 24 is pivoted to the usual arm 25 and operated in the us ial way, It is obvious that the spring member 2 will yield and he forced outward by the arms when the valve is rotated. It is also to be noted that two pawls 19 oppositely disposed may be employed if desired. By removing the cotter pins 11, 17 and 25 the shanks 6 may be drawn from the leg and the valve removed from the leg by forcing the spring member 2 rearward and access also had to the pawl and ratchet.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. The combination with the leg of a seed planter, of a rotary valve mounted in the leg and comprising equally disposed radial arms, a rotatable shankmounted in the leg and having a squared portion on which the valve is mounted, means for intermittently rotating the shank and the valve, and a spring member mounted on the leg and provided with a portion normally engaged by one of the arms of the valve whereby the latter is held against rotation.

2. The combination with the leg of a seed planter, of a rotary valve mounted in the leg and comprising equally disposed radial arms, a rotatable shank mounted in the leg and having a squared portion on which the valve is removably mounted, a ratchet provided on the shank, a disk mounted to rotate on the shank and having a recess to receive the ratchet, a spring pressed pawl mounted in the disk and engaging the ratchet, means for rotating the disk in reverse directions, and a spring member 'mounted on the leg and having a depression normally engaged by one of the arms of the valve whereby the latter is held against rotation.

3. The combination with the leg of a seed planter provided with an inwardly extending partition and a spring member having a depression, of a rotary valve having an equal number of radialarms one of which normally engages in the depression of the spring member and the next adjacent vertical arm normally having its end directly under the lower end of the partition, a shank rotatably mounted in the leg and provided with a squared portion removably en ging the valve, a ratchet formed .integra with the shank, a disk having a recess for receiving the ratchet and rotatably mounted'on the shank, a pawl mounted in the disk and engaging with the ratchet, a spring for holding the pawl in position, the ratchet having the same number of teeth as the valve has arms, means for removably fastening the disk on the shank, a wrist pin provided on the disk, and a link engaging with the wrist pin.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

PHILIP B. HAMER. Witnesses J. W. DOOLEY, C. R. HILL. 

